FARMINGTON — Farmington's animal shelter is reaching out to the community for help.

The shelter is filled to capacity, and volunteers and foster homes for pets are needed, said Marcy Eckhardt, a contractor with Pro-Shelter, which provides leadership and guidance to Farmington's Animal Services division.

"We need help giving (attention) to the animals, extra sets of hands searching for lost pets listed in the newspaper, help taking pictures for pet of the week ... We will embrace whatever they want to bring us," Eckhardt said.

Volunteers are also needed to play with dogs and take them for walks in the park, she said.

"We have a great play yard for the dogs," Eckhardt said.

The shelter's cats are in need of toys and attention as well, she said.

Volunteers who cannot commit to interacting with the shelter's animals can help with grant writing and data analysis and volunteer at adopt-a-thon events, Eckhardt said. They can also scan Craigslist for lost pet posts so that animals are matched with their owners instead of being adopted out to new homes.

"We have a small, core group of volunteers that take pictures for pet of the week and drive animals up to rescue groups," said Samantha Embry, volunteer coordinator at the shelter.

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"If anyone wants to become a volunteer, they should schedule a meeting (at the shelter)."

Foster homes are needed for animals that are less than eight weeks old, Eckhardt said. Once the animals reach the eight week mark, they are able to be spayed or neutered and can then be put up for adoption.

The animal shelter's foster program is used to place animals that are temporarily unadoptable in homes until they can be adopted, according to an information packet provided by the shelter.

The shelter will provide all supplies for people interested in fostering a pet, including food, a crate and vaccinations.

"It gives us a chance to have some overflow space," Eckhardt said. "Right now, we're setting up (animal) transfers, but we need to open up space in the kennels."